Trivia: American leading actor Tom Hanks has become one of the most popular stars in contemporary American cinema. Born July 9, 1956, in Concord, CA, Hanks spent much of his childhood moving about with his father, an itinerant cook, and continually attempting to cope with constantly changing schools, religions, and stepmothers. After settling in Oakland, CA, he began performing in high-school plays. He continued acting while attending Cal State, Sacramento, and left to pursue his vocation full-time. In 1978, Hanks went to find work in New York; while there he married actress/producer Samantha Lewes, whom he later divorced.Hanks debuted onscreen in the low-budget slasher movie He Knows You're Alone (1979). Shortly afterward he moved to Los Angeles and landed a co-starring role in the TV sitcom Bosom Buddies; he also worked occasionally in other TV series such as Taxi and Family Ties, as well as in the TV movie Mazes and Monsters. Hanks finally became prominent when he starred opposite Daryl Hannah in the Disney comedy Splash!, which became the sleeper hit of 1984. Audiences were drawn to the lanky, curly headed actor's amiable, laid-back style and keen sense of comic timing. He went on to appear in a string of mostly unsuccessful comedies before starring in Big (1988), in which he gave a delightful performance as a child in a grown man's body. His 1990 film Bonfire of the Vanities was one of the biggest bombs of the year, but audiences seemed to forgive his lapse. In 1992, Hanks' star again rose when he played the outwardly disgusting, inwardly warm-hearted coach in Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own. This led to a starring role in the smash hit romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle (1993).Although a fine comedic actor, Hanks earned critical respect and an even wider audience when he played a tormented AIDS-afflicted homosexual lawyer in the drama Philadelphia (1993) and won that year's Oscar for Best Actor. In 1994 he won again for his convincing portrait of the slow-witted but phenomenally lucky Forrest Gump, and his success continued with the smash space epic Apollo 13 (1995). In 1996, Hanks tried his hand at screenwriting, directing, and starring in a feature: That Thing You Do!, an upbeat tale of a one-hit wonder group and their manager. The film was not particularly successful, unlike Hanks' next directing endeavor, the TV miniseries From Earth to the Moon. The series was nominated for and won a slew of awards, including a series of Emmys. The success of this project was outdone by Hanks' next, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998). Ryan won vast critical acclaim and was nominated for 11 Oscars, including a Best Actor nomination for Hanks. The film won five, including a Best Director Oscar for Spielberg, but lost Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love, a slight that was to become the subject of controversy. No controversy surrounded Hanks' following film, Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail (1998), a romantic comedy that paired Hanks with his Sleepless co-star Meg Ryan. Although the film got mixed reviews, it was popular with filmgoers, and thus provided Hanks with another success to add to his resumé. Even more success came soon after when Hanks took home the 2000 Golden Globes' Best Actor in a drama award for his portrayal of a shipwrecked FedEx systems engineer who learns the virtues of wasted time in Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away. Though absent from the silver screen in 2001, Hanks remained in the public eye with a role in the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers as well as appearing in September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet. Next teaming with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins graphic novel The Road to Perdition (subsequently inspired by the Japanese manga Lone Wolf and Cub, the nice-guy star took a rare anti-hero role as a hitman (albiet an honorable and fairly respectable hitman) on the lam with his son (Tyler Hoechlin) after his son witnesses a murder. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo Dicaprio in the hit crime-comedy Catch Me if You Can.For the next two years, Hanks was essentially absent from movie screens, but in 2004 he emerged with three new projects: The Coen Brothers' The Lady Killers, yet another Spielberg helmed film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family picture from Forrest Gump and Castaway director Robert Zemeckis. 2006 was a very active year for Hanks starting with an appearance at the Oscar telecast that talented lip-readers will remember for quite some time. In addition to helping produce the HBO Series Big Love, he scored a major international success by reteaming with director Ron Howard for the big-screen adaptation of {Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, which was such a success that he signed on for the sequel in 2009, Angels and Demons. His Playtone production company would have a hand in the animated feature The Ant Bully in 2008, and that same year he filmed The Great Buck Howard co-starring his son Colin Hanks. He also signed on to co-star with Julia Roberts in two different films: Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War in 2008 and the romcom Larry Crowne in 2011. Later that same year, Hanks would make dramatic waves in the post-9/11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.Ranked by Empire Magazine as 17th out of "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" in October 1997, Hanks is married to actress Rita Wilson, with whom he appeared in Volunteers (1985). The couple have two children in addition to Hanks' other two from his previous marriage.

Trivia: Possessing a special talent for totally immersing himself in his roles, Bill Paxton did not always get the recognition he deserves. Tall, rangy, and boyishly good looking, Paxton's career was a curiosity that found the character actor-turned-filmmaker succeeding in intermittently pulling the rug from under filmgoers' feet with a constantly expanding sense of maturity and range.Paxton's interest in films emerged during his teens when he began making his own movies with a Super-8 camera. He formally entered the entertainment industry in 1974 as a set dresser for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Paxton made his acting debut as a bit player in Crazy Mama (1975), and afterward, the young thespian moved to New York to hone his skills. Following performances in a couple of horror quickies, Paxton formally launched his Hollywood career with a tiny part in Ivan Reitman's Stripes (1981) and this led to a steady if not unremarkable career in film and television during the '80s. In addition to acting, Paxton made short independent films such as Fish Heads, (1982) which became a favorite on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Paxton's acting career got a much-needed boost in 1985 when he was cast as Ilan Mitchell-Smith's obnoxious big brother Chet Donolley in John Hughes' Weird Science. Some of Paxton's more memorable subsequent roles include that of a cocky intergalactic soldier in James Cameron's Aliens (1986), a crazed vampire in Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark, and sickly astronaut Freddie Hayes in Ron Howard's Apollo 13. In 1996, Paxton landed a starring role, opposite Helen Hunt, in the special-effects blockbuster Twister; his career took an upward turn and Paxton got more leads than ever. Though few audiences saw it in its limited release, critics were quick to praise Paxton's turn as con-artist Traveler in the 1997 movie of the same name. Following a doomed voyage on the Titanic the same year, the workhorse actor once again intrigued filmgoers as a small-town dweller struggling with his conscience after stumbling into over a million dollars in usually flamboyant director Sam Raimi's strikingly subdued A Simple Plan. A quiet and intense performance enhanced by a talented cast including Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda, the psychological crime drama once again provided further proof that Paxton's impressive range of emotion stretched beyond what many filmgoers may have previously suspected. Though subsequent performances in Mighty Joe Young (1998) and U-571 (2000) did little to backup the promise shown in A Simple Plan, Paxton still had a few tricks up his sleeve, as evidenced by his directorial debut Frailty (2002), a surprisingly competent and genuinely frightening tale of religious fervor and questionable sanity. Though cynical filmgoers may have initially viewed the trailer-touting praises of former collaborators Raimi and James Cameron as favors from old friends, the taut tale of a father who claims that God has provided him with a list of "demons" that he and his sons must cast from the earth blind-sided critics and filmgoers with its disturbingly minimalistic yet complex psychological thriller that recalled the thematic elements of previous efforts as Michael Tolkin's The Rapture (1991). His performance as a loving father who reluctantly embarks on God's mission was a vital component of the films emotional impact, and was once again proof that this former supporting player still had a few tricks up his sleeve.Though he hadn't paid much attention to television since his early career, in 2006, Paxton took on the lead role in HBO's Big Love, playing a polygamous husband with three wives. The show was a hit and garnered critical acclaim, including three Golden Globe nominations for Paxton. When the show wrapped up after five seasons, Paxton joined the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, earning his only Emmy nomination of his career for the role. In 2014, Paxton took on a recurring role in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., playing the villainous John Garrett. He also played Sam Houston in 2015 miniseries Texas Rising. In 2017, his new network show Training Day (a small-screen version of the film) aired only three episodes before Paxton suddenly died of complications from surgery at age 61.

Trivia: Rarely can it be said that an actor is so recognized and of such prominence that a game can be played by connecting him to just about any other celebrity simply through referencing his resumé. Any film buff has most likely participated in a round of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and it's likely that if their opponent was an avid cinephile they came out on the losing end of the match. This should come as no surprise, considering Bacon's extensive and diverse body of work. Born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1958, Bacon received his education at The Circle in the Square (where he became the youngest student to appear in a production) and Manning Street Actor's Theater after leaving home at the age of 18. Two years later, Bacon made his feature debut as the smarmy Chip Diller in director John Landis' beloved frat-house epic Animal House. Following in the next few years with minor roles in such seemingly forgettable films as Hero at Large and Friday the 13th (both 1980), Bacon would re-create his off-Broadway role of a drug-addicted male prostitute in Forty Deuce the same year that he made a memorable appearance as the troubled Timothy Fenwick in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982). Though he had appeared in a few major films and displayed an intriguing range of abilities, it was 1984's Footloose that brought Bacon his breakthrough role. As the big-city boy crusading against the puritanical constraints against dancing imposed by a well-meaning but overbearing fundamentalist minister, Bacon became a teen icon -- an image that, though it propelled him to stardom, would prove difficult to shed. Following Footloose's success with a series of curious failures such as Quicksilver (1986) and White Water Summer (1987), it was on the set of Lemon Sky (also 1987) that Bacon would meet future wife Kyra Sedgwick; the couple exchanged wedding vows the following year. Though he would appear in a few other failed-but-interesting, audience-pleasing thrillers such as Tremors (1989) and Flatliners (1990) in the following years, it was with his role in conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone's JFK (1991) that Bacon found his career revived and began to shed his heartthrob image. Narrowly escaping the Brat Pack trappings of his '80s contemporaries, subsequent roles after JFK may not have all scored direct hits at the box office for Bacon, but audiences were now well aware of his talents and thirsted for more. Bacon would again prove his substantial range in the true story of a brutalized prison inmate opposite Gary Oldman in 1995's Murder in the First. His performance as the disillusioned and broken prisoner, accentuated by his famished and frail skeletal figure, was followed by an equally challenging reality-based role as a member of the troubled Apollo 13 (1995) lunar mission team in director Ron Howard's widely praised film. Proving that he could play sleaze as successfully as slice-of-life, Bacon took a turn for the worse as the sadistic reform-school guard responsible for the rape of a trio of young boys in Sleepers (1996) and as a cop investigating accusations of rape in director John McNaughton's raunchy sex-thriller Wild Things. Bacon's entertaining turn as a receptive father tangled in a mind-bending murder mystery in Stir of Echoes (1999) gained positive reviews, though the intelligent and subtle shocker withered in the shadow of another similarly themed thriller, The Sixth Sense. Though he wasn't visible for the majority of the film, Bacon fell into psychotic territory as the malicious genius consumed by his discovery of the key to invisibility in Paul Verhoeven's sadistic Hollow Man (2000). After an uncredited supporting role in the independent comedy Novocaine, Bacon once again went for the throat in Trapped; and though audiences were generally entertained by the film, it ultimately fell victim to a quick death at the box office due to poor timing (numerous stories of child abductions had been making headlines at the time Trapped was released). Of course with an actor such as Bacon, it was only a matter of time before he once again tackled a substantial dramatic role, and with the release of Mystic River in 2003 audiences found him doing just that. Adapted from the novel of the same name by author Dennis Lehane and directed by Clint Eastwood, Mystic River provided audiences with a brutal, slow-burning study in the effects of violence and the nature of revenge, withBacon's turn as a sympathetic detective playing pitch perfect opposite a mournful performance by Sean Penn. That same year, Bacon showed up in an uncredited role in the Jane Campion thriller In the Cut before taking the lead in the emotional drama The Woodsman.Bacon would continue to work on a variety of projects over the coming years, appearing in everything from the tense period thriller Where the Truth Lies to the ensemble rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love, to the superhero flick X-Men: First Class. Soon however, the actor found himself hungry for a more substantial project, and he found it with the Billy Bob Thornton directed drama Jane Mansfield's Car in 2012, which found him acting alongside heavyweights like Robert Duvall and John Hurt. In 2013, Bacon turned to television, headlining Fox's drama The Following.In addition to his film work, Bacon has frequently toured with brother Michael, playing upbeat country-folk rock under the alliterate moniker the Bacon Brothers.

Trivia: A founding member of the Chicago's influential Steppenwolf Theatre Company (along with Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry) when he was barely 19, Gary Sinise made his professional acting debut at the age of 17 in a 1973 production of The Physicist. Sinise himself would sum up his career best by noting that the secret to a successful career is not to focus on taking off like a rocket, but to "always keep the engine running." With a prolific and well-defined career on each side of the camera in addition to his stage work, keeping the engine running is precisely what Sinise has done, and that engine has been well maintained.Born March 17th, 1955 in Blue Island, IL, Sinise's attraction to the stage was supported early on through the encouragement of Barbara Patterson, his high school drama teacher. After a role in West Side Story, Sinise's love for the stage was set in stone, leading him to found the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where he would meet his future wife, actress Moira Harris. Initially based in a church basement, the Steppenwolf quickly grew in stature and respectability, serving as the breeding ground for such talents as John Malkovich and Laurie Metcalf, and earning critical praise with productions like Sam Shepard's True West, which would eventually become the company's Broadway debut. Sinise's film and television career began as a director on such television series' as Crime Story and thirtysomething, eventually leading to his feature directorial debut with the rural drama Miles From Home (starring fellow Steppenwolfers Metcalf and Malkovich) and his feature acting debut in the haunting war drama A Midnight Clear (1991). Sinise's love for the stage resurfaced with his ambitious 1992 remake of Of Mice and Men (in which he also starred, again with fellow Steppenwolf alum Malkovich, in the roles they had both portrayed on stage).But it was his performance as the physically crippled and emotionally shattered Lt. Dan in Robert Zemeckis' blockbuster Forrest Gump (1994) that brought Sinise to light as an actor of considerable talent. His sensitive portrait of a once invincible soldier reduced to a pathetic self-pitying ghost of his own former glory was the perfect vessel for the actor's quiet intensity and florid emotional capabilities, and brought him the Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. That same year Sinise had a starring role in the long-anticipated television adaptation of Stephen King's apocalyptic thriller The Stand.Sinise continued to display his dramatic abilities through the '90s, rejoining Gump co-star Tom Hanks in Ron Howard's Apollo 13 and starring as both Harry S. Truman and George Wallace in the biopics Truman (1995) (for which he won a Cable Ace Award and a Golden Globe) and George Wallace (1997) (for which he won an Emmy). With minor appearances in The Green Mile and Being John Malkovich (both 1999), Sinise brought in the year 2000 in a sci-fi mode, with Brian De Palma's existential thriller Mission to Mars and as a weapons engineer with questionable motives in Imposter. Throughout the next decade Sinise worked in a variety of films including The Big Bounce, The Human Stain, and The Forgotten. However he had is most visible role on the small screen when he was cast as the male lead in the third of the popular CSI series, CSI: NY. In 2006 he brought his theater trained voice to the animated Open Season.

Trivia: Bearing sharp, blue-eyed features and the outward demeanor of an everyday Joe, Ed Harris possesses a quiet, charismatic strength and intensity capable of electrifying the screen. During the course of his lengthy career, he has proven his talent repeatedly in roles both big and small, portraying characters both villainous and sympathetic.Born Edward Allen Harris in Tenafly, NJ, on November 28, 1950, Harris was an athlete in high school and went on to spend two years playing football at Columbia University. His interest in acting developed after he transferred to the University of Oklahoma, where he studied acting and gained experience in summer stock. Harris next attended the California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a Fine Arts degree. He went on to find steady work in the West Coast theatrical world before moving to New York. In 1983, he debuted off-Broadway in Sam Shepard's Fool for Love in a part especially written for him. His performance won him an Obie for Best Actor. Three years later, he made his Broadway debut in George Firth's Precious Sons and was nominated for a Tony. During the course of his career, Harris has gone on to garner numerous stage awards from associations on both coasts. Harris made his screen debut in 1977's made-for-television movie The Amazing Howard Hughes. The following year, he made his feature-film debut with a small role in Coma (1978), but his career didn't take off until director George Romero starred Harris in Knightriders (1981). The director also cast him in his next film, Creepshow (1982). Harris' big break as a movie star came in 1983 when he was cast as straight-arrow astronaut John Glenn in the film version of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. Twelve years later, Harris would again enter the world of NASA, this time playing unsung hero Gene Krantz (and earning an Oscar nomination) in Ron Howard's Apollo 13.The same year he starred in The Right Stuff, Harris further exhibited his range in his role as a psychopathic mercenary in Under Fire. The following year, he appeared in three major features, including the highly touted Places in the Heart. In addition to earning him positive notices, the film introduced him to his future wife, Amy Madigan, who also co-starred with him in Alamo Bay (1985). In 1989, Harris played one of his best-known roles in The Abyss (1989), bringing great humanity to the heroic protagonist, a rig foreman working on a submarine. He did further notable work in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, and turned in a suitably creepy performance as Christof, the manipulative creator of Truman Burbank's world in Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998). Harris earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his work. The following year, he could be seen in The Third Miracle, starring as a Catholic priest who finds his faith sorely tested.The new millennium found Harris' labor of love, the artist biopic Pollock, seeing the light of day after nearly a decade of development. Spending years painting and researching the modernist painter, Harris carefully and lovingly oversaw all aspects of the film, including directing, producing, and starring in the title role. The project served as a turning point in Harris' remarkable career, showing audiences and critics alike that there was more to the man of tranquil intensity than many may have anticipated; Harris was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his work. 2001 saw Harris as a German sniper with his targets set on Jude Law in the wartime suspense-drama Enemy at the Gates, and later as a bumbling Army captain in the irreverent Joaquin Phoenix vehicle Buffalo Soldiers. With his portrayal of a well known author succumbing to the ravages of AIDS in 2002's The Hours, Harris would recieve his fourth Oscar nominattion. 2004 found the actor working with Zooey Deschanel for Winter Passing, a psychological drama in which he played a one-time popular novelist who claims he is working on one last book. Harris was praised for his work in Empire Falls (2005), a two-part miniseries from HBO chronicling a middle-aged man who is concerned he has wasted his life, though his work as a scarred stranger with a score to settle in David Cronenberg's award-winning psychological thriller A History of Violence was his biggest success in 2005. In 2007, Harris played a Boston police detective in Ben Affleck's adaptation of author Dennis Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone. A year later, Harris wrote, starred, directed, and produced Appaloosa, a western following a small town held under the thumb of a ruthless rancher and his crew, and continued to work throughout 2009 and 2010 in films including Once Fallen, Virginia, and The Way Back. Praise came his way once more in 2011's What I Am, a gentle coming-of-age comedy in which Harris plays a teacher who is a catalyst for the friendship of two young boys. In 2012, he earned Emmy and SAG nominations and a Golden Globe award for playing John McCain in the HBO movie Game Change. The next year had him appearing in six films, including playing a detective in Pain & Gain and voicing mission control in Gravity, a throwback to his earlier work in Apollo 13.

Trivia: After limited stage experience, 19-year-old Kathleen Quinlan made her film debut in American Graffiti. The first stage of her movie career peaked with the starring role as a schizophrenic in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). She then spent most of the 1980s in secondary roles. Kathleen Quinlan reentered the consciousness of the American filmgoing public with her Oscar-nominated performance as Mrs. James Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995), directed by her American Graffiti co-star Ron Howard. Over the coming decades, Quinlan would prove she'd cemented herself as a bankable force on screen, appearing in such films as A Civil Action, Breach, Poundcake, and Made of Honor. She would also star on the series Family Law and Prison Break.

Trivia: Brooklyn-born Xander Berkeley made the rounds on numerous TV shows throughout the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, not just as an actor, but as a makeup artist. The actor has put his uncanny talent in the makeup department to use on the sets of many shows, like on 24, where he designed his own makeup to depict his character's affliction with radiation sickness.Berkeley got his start in show business in the early '80s, appearing on shows like Moonlighting, The A-Team, and M*A*S*H. He went on to appear in movies, as well, like The Rock and Apollo 13, but he frequently returned to the small screen for memorable roles like George Mason, head of the Counterterrorist Unit on 24, and Sheriff Roy Atwater on CSI. In the coming years, Berkeley would continue to find success on teh small screen, on shows like Nikita.

Trivia: A native of rural Humboldt, IA, character actor Christian Clemenson left his home state when a scholarship that he netted as part of his paperboy route afforded him the opportunity to attend the prestigious Phillips Academy preparatory school in Andover, MA. That experience imparted Clemenson with a deep-seated love of theatrics, and he spent his Iowan summers during college acting in local stage productions. The upstart subsequently attended Harvard as an undergraduate and Yale Drama School as a grad student, then moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'80s, where he accepted a long series of bit parts and supporting roles in A-list features, typically cast as nebbishy professional types. Early films in which Clemenson appeared included Heartburn (1986), Legal Eagles (1986), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Broadcast News (1987).Beginning in the late '90s, Clemenson began placing a stronger emphasis on television work, with guest roles in series including Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, and NYPD Blue. He received critical kudos for his portrayal of ill-fated executive Thomas E. Burnett Jr., a victim of the September 11th terrorist attacks, in Paul Greengrass' feature United 93 (2006), then joined William Shatner, Candice Bergen, and James Spader of David E. Kelley's offbeat seriocomedy Boston Legal in a recurring capacity during the show's second season; on the program, Clemenson played Jerry "Hands" Espenson, a troubled lawyer plagued by Asperger's Syndrome. He went on to win Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2006 for that role, and continued to appear on the show, later attaining regular status and staying with the series until it folded in 2009. Clemenson would continue to appear regularly on screen as the years went on, appearing on shows like CSI: Miami and Harry's Law.

Trivia: A native of Houston, TX, Brett Cullen graduated from that city's university, also finding time to compete in fencing and contribute to the Houston Shakespeare Festival. Opting for a shot at stardom over continuing his theater studies, Cullen landed a role on The Chisholms as his first breakthrough. He achieved much attention as Bob Cleary in the highly successful miniseries The Thorn Birds, which led to a stint on the nighttime soap Falcon Crest. He continued to work steadily on both the stage and the screen including production of Guys and Dolls, The Little Foxes, and numerous Shakespearean plays. His film credits include Courage Under Fire and Apollo 13, a role that led to him joining the cast of the Tom Hanks-produced television spectacle From the Earth to the Moon. Cullen has had recurring roles on such respected programs as Ugly Betty, Friday Night Lights, The West Wing, and Lost. In 2007, he starred opposite Uma Thurman in the drama In Bloom. That same year, Cullen starred in the pilot for the television program Life Is Wild, but he was replaced when the show went to series by D.W. Moffett. He had a major role in 2008's The Life Before Her Eyes as well as Brothel. Two years later he played the dad of the troubled lead singer of The Runaways, and he followed that up with a part in the teen comedy Monte Carlo. In 2012 he could be seen in the blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises.

Trivia: An actor who bears an uncanny resemblance to Val Kilmer, Loren Dean is as talented as he is underrated. Largely a supporting player, Dean has twice demonstrated his considerable mettle in films where he has been cast as the title protagonist -- first in the gangster drama Billy Bathgate (1991) and then in Mumford (1999), Lawrence Kasdan's tale of a small town's mysterious psychiatrist.Born in Las Vegas on July 31, 1969, Dean was raised in L.A. by his mother after his parents divorced when he was a small child. He saw his father on the weekends when the two went to the cinema; it was through these weekly outings that Dean developed an interest in film. He also took an early interest in music, something that carried him through a tumultuous adolescence that was marked by a short stint as a runaway in San Francisco when he was 16.Following his 1986 graduation from high school, Dean moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. Living in relative poverty, he eventually found an agent through a friend of a friend, and he began appearing onstage. The actor made his film debut in 1988 as the brother of an undercover cop in Martha Coolidge's Plain Clothes, and a year later, he played Lili Taylor's notoriously bad ex-boyfriend Joe in Cameron Crowe's celebrated ...Say Anything.Dean got what should have been a major career breakthrough in 1991, when he starred as Billy Bathgate's titular street urchin turned mob confidante. Unfortunately, the film flopped, although even its most naysaying critics usually singled Dean's performance out for praise. He subsequently appeared in a supporting capacity in films ranging from Apollo 13 (1995) to How to Make an American Quilt (1995) to Gattaca (1997), and he starred in a handful of films destined for video oblivion, such as 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Starf*cker (1998), which cast him as a cokehead ex-sitcom star. Dean received some of the best notices of his career when he starred as the eponymous small town shrink of Mumford (1999). He managed to stand out in a pleasant, unforced performance that was ably complemented by an ensemble cast which included Hope Davis, Alfre Woodard, Jason Lee, Mary McDonnell, and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Many observers were left to wonder where he had been hiding all this time. The following year, Dean resurfaced in Space Cowboys, an adventure drama that cast him as an astronaut sent along on a mission with a group of grizzled NASA veterans (Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner, and Donald Sutherland) to repair a faulty satellite. After a major role in The War Bride, Dean appeared less frequently on screen limiting his output to some episodic television, The Poker Club, and 2010's Hilary Swank vehicle Conviction.

Trivia: The son of actors, juvenile performer Clint Howard began showing up on screen in the mid-1960s, usually in the TV series and feature films co-starring his older brother Ron Howard. Clint's best-known TV guest appearances include the part of Balok in the 1966 Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver," and his vivid portrayal of a youthful prognosticator in the opening installment of Night Gallery's 1971-72 season. He was starred in the 1967 Ivan Tors theatrical feature Gentle Giant and in that property's TV-series spin-off Gentle Ben. Upon attaining adulthood, Howard was mostly consigned to character parts; he has also been featured in the films directed by his brother Ron Howard, from Eat My Dust (1978) to Apollo 13 (1995).

Trivia: Best remembered for playing plucky cub reporter Jimmy Olson in all four of the Superman films that starred Christopher Reeve, Marc McClure made his film debut in the Disney film Freaky Friday and in the television movie James at 15 (both 1977). He went on to play supporting roles and occasional leads in both venues. In 1979, McClure starred in the short-lived TV series California Fever.

Trivia: While other students at Berkeley were weaving flowers in their hair and blowing weed, Joe Spano was laying the groundwork for an acting career. After establishing himself on the San Francisco theatrical scene, Spano began showing up on screen in such supporting roles as Vic in American Graffiti (1974) and Ace in Roadie (1980). From January 1981 through May 1987, Spano could be seen on a weekly basis as Henry Goldblume, the bespectacled and bowtied community affairs officer on the TV series Hill Street Blues. In 1992, Joe Spano made his Broadway debut in a revival of Arthur Miller's The Price.

Trivia: Making his screen debut at the age of three in Pet Cemetary (1989), juvenile actor Miko Hughes has gone on to appear in major Hollywood productions ranging from Kindergarten Cop (1990), Jack the Bear (1993), Apollo 13 (1996), and Spawn (1997). Hughes is also a veteran of television shows, was a guest on The Tonight Show, and has made guest appearances in such shows as Picket Fences, The Nanny, and Beverly Hills 90210. When not acting, Hughes actively participates in Native American ceremonies across the country as a dancer at powwows. He is half Chickasaw and in 1990 was the grand marshal of the Chickasaw Festival in Tishominso, OK.

Trivia: Actress Jean Speegle Howard is the mother of actor/director Ron Howard. Although she largely retired from acting in the 1950s, she occasionally appears in films directed by her son.

Trivia: Lead actress, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: A character actor with a knack for playing blustery Southerners and military men (comic and dramatic), Chris Ellis was, appropriately enough, born and raised in Mississippi. While hardly a radical, 18-year-old Ellis discovered his interest in the arts, and his slightly longer than average hair made him a less than welcome presence in Mississippi. In 1968, he began studying acting with a theater troupe in Memphis, TN, where he made his stage debut. After completing his studies, Ellis moved to New York City, where he began working in off-Broadway and regional theater. However, keeping his foot in the door proved difficult for Ellis, and he found himself without steady work through most of the '80s, getting by thanks to the kindness of friends who would often invite him over for dinner. In 1990, Ellis' luck began to change when he was cast as the memorable Harlan Hoogerhyde in the Tom Cruise vehicle Days of Thunder. By the mid-'90s, Ellis was working steadily in film and television, making small but notable appearances in Apollo 13, That Thing You Do!, and Armageddon, and making guest appearances on such series as The X-Files, Millennium, and Chicago Hope.

Trivia: Began acting in Atlanta in the early 1980s. Made film debut (as a state trooper) in 1989's Driving Miss Daisy; other film credits include Apollo 13, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Blind Side. Shared the 2001 live-action short Oscar for The Accountant with his late wife, Lisa Blount, the comedy's executive producer; and his costar and producing partner, Walton Goggins. McKinnon also wrote and directed. Was a regular on the first season of HBO's Deadwood (2004). His 2004 indie drama Chrystal (starring Blount and Billy Bob Thornton) was nominated for a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. Was nominated for a 2009 Independent Spirit supporting-actor award for That Evening Sun. (He also produced the drama, along with Goggins.)

Trivia: Made his stage acting debut when he was 10 in a community theater production of the musical Oliver!Moved to New York to pursue an acting career making ends meet by working as a doorman at New York's Wellington Hotel.First professional acting job was in a 1986 Pepsi commercial that was Miami Vice-themed and directed by Ridley Scott.Was previously vice president of the Screen Actors Guild.Was the founding executive vice president of SAG-AFTRA.

Trivia: For two decades, it seemed as if cherubic actor Andy Milder would forever be relegated to the sort of thankless television walk-on roles that, while serving well to pay the bills, don't necessarily provide any kind of creative challenge for the talent in question. Sure he had a face that every television viewer could single out thanks to a diverse filmography that included roles in Married with Children, The Wonder Years, NYPD Blue, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The West Wing, and Ugly Betty, but thanks to recurring roles on the animated Legion of Super Heroes and the hit Showtime series Weeds he reached a new level of success. Cast as Lightning Lad in the former and stoned husband Dean Hodes in the later, Milder was finally attaining the kind of recognition he deserved. Additional feature roles in Domino, Transformers, and Frost/Nixon found his film career holding up respectably around this time as well. In 2011 he had a small part in that year's Oscar winning Bet Picture, The Artist.

Trivia: Became a member of The American Conservatory Theatre when he was 16.Was a member of the Sigma Nu while at University of Southern California.Studied acting with legendary acting teacher Peggy Feury at the Loft Studio, alongside Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer and Nicolas Cage.First acting credit was on the 1983 episode "But It's Not My Fault" of ABC Afterschool Specials.Frequently does writing projects with his writing partner and wife Marcia Blake, for screenwriter Robert Towne, Tom Cruise's production companies, HBO, among others.

Trivia: A supporting actor who is probably best known to audiences for his work in High Fidelity, in which he played a shy music geek with a penchant for shoe-gazing and Belle and Sebastian, Todd Louiso began his screen career in the late 1980s. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father worked as a dancer and choreographer and his mother worked in an advertising agency, Louiso took an early interest in acting. After spending much of his primary and secondary school education in an alternative arts school, he studied film at New York University.Louiso began his career with minor roles in such films as Stella (1989) and Billy Bathgate (1991), the latter of which provided him with an introduction to Tom Stoppard, who was the film's screenwriter. The two formed a friendship which led to Louiso producing and directing the short Fifteen Minute Hamlet, which was based upon Stoppard's play of the same name. The film screened at several festivals, including Sundance, and it earned a fair amount of critical acclaim. While at work on Fifteen Minute Hamlet, Louiso moved to L.A. to further pursue his screen career, and, after appearing in such films as Scent of a Woman (1992), Apollo 13 (1995), and Jerry Maguire (1996), he had his most high profile role to date in Stephen Frears' widely celebrated adaptation of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity (2000).

Trivia: Looking far younger than his true age, general purpose actor Larry Williams (born Edward Albert Williams) seems to have appeared in every other Warner Bros. B-movie between 1938 and 1942, rarely given anything to do or say but a comfortable presence to have around. Freelancing, Williams continued to appear in supporting and bit roles through the early '50s. He was married to actress Helen Dickson.

Trivia: Grew up in Tennessee on a dairy farm. Was an excellent student in high school while taking drama classes and doing plays. Travelled to New York for the first time due to a modeling job. Worked as a foot model. Was a trophy girl at a race track. Studied acting in New York before moving to Los Angeles. Studied acting at Larry Moss Studio and holds a B.F.A. in Theater Arts. Skilled in swimming, horseback riding, rock climbing and softball.

Trivia: Studied acting in London for one year before attending college in America. Made his Broadway debut in Lost in Yonkers as a replacement for Louie, the character originated by Kevin Spacey. Has worked numerous times on both stage and screen with director Mike Nichols. Appeared in the Vancouver Playhouse's production of True West in 2008, opposite Vincent Gale. Holds Canadian citizenship.

Trivia: Fresh-faced Austin O'Brien made his mark as a movie child star before settling into the TV series Promised Land in the latter half of the 1990s. Oregon-born O'Brien began acting as a child in TV commercials. By his pre-teens, O'Brien made the jump to films in the virtual reality thriller The Lawnmower Man (1992). O'Brien soon earned the dubious distinction, however, of starring as the boy who gets to join his action idol onscreen in the notorious Arnold Schwarzenegger flop Last Action Hero (1993). Less tarnished by the experience than his muscle-bound co-star, O'Brien soon moved on to fill Macauley Culkin's shoes as Anna Chlumskey's male foil/friend in the sequel My Girl 2 (1994). Despite appearing as the Whiz Kid in Ron Howard's esteemed space blockbuster Apollo 13 (1995), O'Brien was back to roles in young teen fare with The Babysitters' Club (1995). After starring as a young hacker pitted against the evil title character in the sequel Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996), O'Brien moved to series television when he was cast as Gerald McRaney's son in the Christian family drama Promised Land. During the series' 1996-1999 run, O'Brien also guest starred several times as his Promised Land character Josh on the hit series Touched By an Angel. After Promised Land ended, O'Brien headed to college to study his other creative passion, music.

Trivia: With his distinct appearance, the bald and imposing African-American player Thom Barry made a seemingly perfect character actor, and thus found himself frequently cast as guards, police detectives, and heavies in mainstream Hollywood features, from the early '90s on. He landed a bit part as a guard in Rob Reiner's The American President (1995), appeared as Samahani in Congo (1995), and played Sgt. Marcus in the Shaquille O'Neal-headlined superhero picture Steel (1997). Barry maintained a higher profile as Agent Bilkins in two Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action pictures, The Fast and the Furious (2001) and its sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003). Additionally, after years of guest-acting work on the small screen, he signed for his first regular role -- that of homicide investigator Will Jeffries -- on the popular detective series Cold Case (2006).

Trivia: Encouraged by better-than-average success as a stage performer in such plays as Mister Roberts and The Seven Year Itch, American actor Rance Howard decided to try his luck in Hollywood. Talent, however, meant less than star appeal in Tinseltown, thus Howard was confined to small roles which took only minimal advantage of his abilities. Howard's wife Jean was also an actress, but retired to raise their son Ron (both mother and child appeared in the 1956 Western Frontier Woman). Ron was photogenic enough to attain supporting parts on various TV shows and films, leading to a regular role as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Those cynics who believe that Rance Howard forced his son into acting in order to create a meal ticket are referred to a well-known anecdote concerning the earliest years of the Griffith program. Little Ron decided to test his value by throwing a temper tantrum -- whereupon Rance took the boy aside, gave him a spanking, and told his son that if he didn't want to act like a professional he'd have to go home and forget about acting. While Rance certainly did not rely on Ron's fame alone to get work (he remained a busy stage actor), it is true that Ron recommended his dad for supporting roles in such films as The Music Man (1962) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), both of which featured the younger Howard. When child star Ronny Howard became A-list film director Ron Howard in the '80s he continued casting both dad Rance and younger brother Clint Howard in Splash (1984) and other films. Rance Howard remained a reliable general purpose actor well into the 2000s.

Trivia: A former engineering student, Roger Corman entered the picture business as a messenger and ended up a producer/director after a stint as a story analyst and a brief detour to Oxford University. After returning to Hollywood, he saw an opportunity to make money and gain experience by making low-budget films to feed the drive-in and neighborhood theater circuits, which had been abandoned in large part by the major studios. Working from budgets of as little as 50,000 dollars, he quickly learned the art of creating bargain-basement entertainment and making money at it, producing and directing pictures for American International Pictures and Allied Artists. Five Guns West, Apache Woman, The Day the World Ended, It Conquered the World, Not of This Earth, The Undead, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Doll, Machine Gun Kelly, The Wasp Woman, and Sorority Girl were only a few of the titles, and they were indicative of their subjects. These films were short (some as little as 62 minutes) and threadbare in production values. (Reportedly, distributor Samuel Z. Arkoff used to look at the film footage at the end of each day of shooting and call Corman, telling him, "Roger, for chrissake, hire a couple more extras and put a little more furniture on the set!") But his films were also extremely entertaining, and endeared Corman to at least two generations of young filmgoers.During the early '60s, Corman became more ambitious, and made the serious school desegregation drama The Intruder. Adapted for the screen by his brother Gene Corman from Charles Beaumont's novel, it was the only one of his movies to lose money -- because few theaters would book it -- although it was one of the finest B-movies ever made. Corman also began working in color, most notably on a series of adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories starring Vincent Price that won the respect of younger critics and aspiring filmmakers alike. Corman also employed many young film students and writers during this period, including Francis Ford Coppola, Curtis Harrington, and author Robert Towne. His output decreased as his budgets went up, and Corman moved away from directing and into producing. In the 1970s, '80s and '90s, Corman was still producing exploitation films (such as Humanoids From the Deep), but his New World Pictures also distributed several important foreign movies, including Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers and the groundbreaking Jamaican crime drama The Harder They Come.

Trivia: Black lead and supporting actor, onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: Smooth, suave American general purpose actor Paul Mantee played the leading role in his first film, the superior sci-fier Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). He went the James Bond route in A Man Called Dagger (1966), then settled into a lengthy supporting career in films (They Shoot Horses Don't They, Great Santini) and TV movies (Helter Skelter). Mantee wrote several amusing TV Guide articles about the peripatetic existence of the journeyman actor, once toting up a list of the lines he'd spoken most often (topping the charts was "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if have to"). From 1986 through 1988, Paul Mantee was seen on a weekly basis as Detective Al Corassa on Cagney and Lacey and later had a recurring role on the series Hunter. Mantee retired from acting in the late '90s and passed away in November 2013 at age 82.

Trivia: John Wheeler, a bald-headed character actor of short stature, is most familiar from television, though he started his career in music. Born in Texas, he attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1952. After serving in the United States Army, he moved to New York City to pursue his master's degree. Possessed of a rich, powerful tenor voice, he sang with the City Center Opera in New York and also performed in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel and Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green's Wonderful Town at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, later repeating his role in the latter work in its television presentation that same year, which starred Rosalind Russell. On Broadway, he appeared in The Happiest Girl in the World, Kean, Cafe Crown, and I Had a Ball. He was also in the stage version of Sweet Charity, portraying Herman, the dance hall proprietor, a role that went to Stubby Kaye in the movie adaptation (Wheeler played a smaller role in the film and never had the chance to immortalize his voice on "I Love To Cry at Weddings"). Wheeler remained active into the 21st century, and is best known to television audiences for his work in episodes of such oft-rerun 1970s sitcoms as The Brady Bunch ("Dough Re Mi") and, most especially, The Odd Couple -- the latter series made use of Wheeler's vocal talents as well as his comedic acting ability as a bit player in a half dozen episodes, casting him as various characters (most often referred to as Fred Felscher) associated with Felix's opera club. He has also done numerous commercials.